One of the driving forces in chronic pain is thought to be memory of earlier pain.

Martin said: “If remembered pain is a driving force for chronic pain and we understand how pain is remembered, we may be able to help some sufferers by treating the mechanisms behind the memories directly.”

And Mogil echoed his optimism.

He said: “This research supports the idea that the memory of pain can affect later pain.

“I think it’s appropriate to say that further study of this extremely robust phenomenon might give us insights that may be useful for future treatment of chronic pain and I don’t often say that. One thing is for sure, after running this study, I’m not very proud of my gender.”